A luxury watch worth £1,500 could land in North Lincolnshire after being sent up into space - and the lucky finder will get to keep it.

Debyshire-based jeweller Jura Watches, which is part of CW Sellors Fine Jewellery, will rocket the Seiko timepiece into the air on Thursday (July 20), using a helium-filled balloon.

A series of cameras attached to the balloon will film the ascent, capturing the curvature of the Earth, before atmospheric pressure causes the balloon to expand and burst, with its payload to fall back to Earth with the aid of a parachute.

Once the package lands, members of the public are invited to hunt it down, with the finder being allowed to keep the watch as a prize.

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The project is being overseen by space launch specialists Sent Into Space.

Chris Rose, director of the company, said: "The commonly accepted gateway to near space is the Armstrong Line at 19km, this is the point at which you would need a pressurised Space Suit to survive or your blood would quite literally boil in your body - and we are aiming to reach altitudes exceeding 35km.

"Temperatures will plunge to lower than minus 60 degrees Celsius, pressure will drop to almost zero and the watch will experience significant accelerations and speeds over 200 miles per hour on its re-entry through the atmosphere as it returns to Earth."

David Harnby, director of sales and marketing at Seiko, said: "Orbiting 20,000km above the surface of the earth are the GPS satellites that help us run our lives and to which every Seiko Astron GPS Solar watch connects.

"To celebrate this incredible technology we thought it would be exciting to see how close we could take an Astron watch to these satellites and beyond.

"Over the past 136 years Seiko has pushed boundaries and taken huge technological steps in the world of horology. We are thrilled to partner with Jura Watches to take this giant leap."